Figures from across the political spectrum in attendance as Labour icon is laid to rest

Politicians and activists bade an emotional farewell to Tony Benn as the Labour stalwart’s final departure from Parliament was greeted with both tears and a sustained round of applause.

Cherie Blair joined leading Labour figures, including leader Ed Miliband, shadow chancellor Ed Balls and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper in St Margaret’s Church, which was packed to its 750-strong capacity, for the funeral of the former cabinet minister.

But, in a mark of Mr Benn’s influence and standing, the congregation also drew figures from across the political spectrum. Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, the former IRA commander who is now Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister joined Conservatives including chief whip Sir George Young, his predecessor Andrew Mitchell, Michael Heseltine and prominent backbencher Bill Cash along with former Liberal leader Lord Steel for the ceremony.

Also among the mourners were Unite union boss Len McCluskey, impressionist Rory Bremner and leading figures from television news, including ITN newsreader Alastair Stewart and the BBC’s Robert Peston.

Outside, hundreds of well wishers gathered to listen to the service, which was being broadcast on loudspeakers, and frequently cheered and broke into applause as Mr Benn’s family shared memories.

In the moving hour-long service mourners were brought to tears and roused to laughter as his children Stephen, Hilary, Melissa and Joshua, as well as Mr Benn’s brother David recounted tales of family life.

Oldest son Stephen said: “The very last words he heard on this earth was the four of us telling him we loved him.”

Daughter Melissa told the congregation her father was a “funny and mischievous” man who loved to play pranks but was also deeply emotional.

“He was never ashamed of showing his feelings,” she said. “He laughed and cried easily. He was an unabashed sentimentalist. He loved a film like the Railway Children so much tears would be rolling down his checks at the opening credits.”

David told how his brother had been radicalised during his childhood by his public school education “which he loathed”, and after being outraged by the treatment of black Africans he saw when travelling the world during his time in the forces.

Hilary Benn, shadow communities secretary, told how his father had been an inspiration.

“As a father he was always willing to offer advice. Once, he was taken ill at the Labour Party Conference. My brother and I tracked him down to an ambulance. He was lying there on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on.

“As we set off for hospital, his finger rose and beckoned. I leaned over.

“Dad, dad what is it?”

He pulled down the mask and said: “Now, H about your speech to conference this week”. I knew then that he was going to be alright just as I know now how much I will miss his wisdom.

“Life taught him that ideas and movements have the power to transform our world, and that’s why he was so determined to support others in their struggles.

“And he taught us that a better world is possible - at times seen clearly, at others only faintly glimpsed - but in so doing he inspired others to believe that too.

“For any man, for any life, to do that alone is to tell the story of a life fulfilled.”

Mr Miliband gave a reading from The Pilgrim’s Progress and Commons Speaker John Bercow read a passage from Corinthians.

Traditional Labour anthem The Red Flag played quietly as members of the Benn family carried the coffin out of the church but, as the hundreds of mourners queued to leave they broke out into a spontaneous rendition of the song.

Earlier, the former cabinet minister’s coffin was driven the short distance from the Palace of Westminster’s Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, where his body laid in rest overnight.

It was topped with a wreath of red roses to match the emblems on many of the banners held by a large crowd lining the route and representing many of the causes he championed during a Commons career spanning more than half a century.

Among them were Stop The War, the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, trade unions and several opposing government cuts.

The procession was led by the chaplain to the Commons Speaker, the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin - who kept an overnight vigil beside the body - and was followed by family members.

Onlookers clapped as the coffin was carried from the hearse to the entrance to the church but silence fell as Big Ben chimed 11am.

Among those seen shedding a tear was his long-time Labour colleague and former foreign secretary Dame Margaret Beckett.

First elected to parliament in 1950, Mr Benn renounced a peerage to remain in the House of Commons, serving in the cabinets of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan and staging a bitterly divisive battle with Denis Healey for the Labour deputy leadership as the champion of the left in 1981.

He famously retired from Parliament in 2001, saying he wanted to “spend more time on politics”, and won a new status as a national treasure touring the country to speak to packed venues from town halls to West End theatres and the Glastonbury festival.

Well into his 80s, he was a familiar and popular figure at demonstrations and anti-war rallies. Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum after his death at 88 was announced on March 14.

A memorial meeting will be held later in the year.

Mr Miliband later sent a message on Twitter: ``I was proud to speak at Tony Benn's funeral earlier. His family spoke so warmly about their love for him.''

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The Editor

Mark Thoma

Liverpool-born Mark joined the Daily Post in January 2014 after seven years as editor of its Merseyside sister title the Liverpool Post. He started out as a weekly news reporter on Wirral Newspapers, and spent seven years at the Daily Post and Liverpool Echo. He was The Press Association's regional correspondent for North Wales, Merseyside and Cheshire from 1983 to 1997, before returning to the ECHO as deputy news editor. He has won a number of journalism awards, including the UK Press Gazzette Regional Reporter of the Year award, and in 1993 wrote a book on the James Bulger murder.